Recruitment process wins staff but the job loses them

With nearly 2000 staff and offices Australia-wide, one of our finance sector clients receives contrasting results in their Insync Surveys Entry/Exit Interview and Survey. While the Entry Survey shows people join the organisation because of interpersonal and hygiene/maintenance factors, their Exit Interview and Survey shows employees leave because of career development and job enrichment factors.

From a business perspective, staff retention is an issue that keeps recruitment costs high and the executive team awake at night.

Entry findings

Our Entry Survey findings show that prospective staff are enticed by fair/respectful treatment, good working conditions and/or work/life balance options. While these things have been relatively straightforward for the organisation to set up and attract people with, they haven’t motivated employees in the longer term compared to enrichment factors.

Pulse and exit interview findings

For this client, enrichment factors are resonating as deeper issues for employees once they get past the recruitment and induction phase. These findings are revealed through the client’s Pulse Survey and Exit Interview. Unfortunately for this executive and HR team, they’re harder issues to change. For example, skills/abilities being used to full their potential, empowerment in ones’ role, opportunities for career development and the level of training offered are areas departing employees are marking down.

As the gloss from strong recruitment and maintenance factors wears off, the realities of the role and a lack of enrichment factors are sinking in.

Interestingly, by surveying employees every few months and as they depart, our findings also show that the areas of disgruntlement, known as gaps, are becoming bigger the longer staff have been with the company. In other words, people are becoming more unhappy over time.

Another twist is that the results are organisation-wide. While the client does have a call centre, where the results are more pronounced, the gap findings ring true across all departments. This highlights the need for change.

Improvement initiatives

To improve retention and reduce recruitment spend, this company’s HR team is working on providing a realistic job preview during the application and interview process for potential new staff. This aims to create realistic career expectations. The company is also instigating additional training for skill enhancement and is improving the tools and resources offered that allow a person to do their job well.

Departing staff have offered some ideas in their Exit Interview that the HR team is also working on; new programs are now underway around career progression plans, job variety and challenges and management providing greater support, communication and visibility.